Pic: BernamaMUAR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced an additional RM100 million allocation for the installation of village street lights that will benefit 2.5 million people in the country.

He said RM50 million of the sum came from the government and another RM50 million from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), and the project involved the installation of 50,000 units of village street lights.

"The construction and installation of the lights are expected to take between 10 and 14 weeks, and TNB has said it will expedite the installation.

"When a village is illuminated, I believe the people will enjoy various benefits. The villages will have a more cheerful atmosphere and there will be better security,” he said at a press conference after meeting the people and launching the village street lighting programme, in Bukit Mor here.

Ismail Sabri, speaking at the event, said the Rural and Regional Development Ministry had spent RM247 million to finance the installation of over 317,000 units of street lights in the country from the time of the 8th Malaysia Plan to the 11th Plan in 2016.

Of these, he said, 258,000 units were installed in Peninsular Malaysia, 31,811 units in Sabah and 27,259 units in Sarawak.

"In his Budget 2017 speech, the Prime Minister announced an allocation of RM100 million for the installation of about 110,000 village street lights in the country.

“Of the total number, 6,333 units were the LED type and the rest the High-Pressure Sodium Vapour (HPSV) type," he said.

Ismail Sabri said that in 2017, the ministry implemented Phase 8 of the village street lighting programme for Johor with an allocation of RM8.33 million to install 13,582 units of street lights in 1,555 villages in the state.